An Analysis of the Textual Features of Legal Discourse From the Perspective of Thematic Progression: Based on Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1107.09Keywords:
theme–rheme, thematic progression, legislative discourse, textual featuresAbstract
This study is devoted to analyze the textual features of Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China from the perspective of Thematic Progression. From the data analysis, we can see that, the mode of “TP with a Constant Theme” occupies a large proportion, followed by the mode of “Simple Linear TP” and “TP with Derived T’S”. The use of “TP with a Constant Theme” can make the legislative discourse full of strong legal logic, clarity, consistency and mandatory. Through TP with a Constant Theme, the whole discourse has a continuous flow of information and the clauses are connected closely and tightly. The structure of “Simple Linear TP” has highlighted the information focus of the rheme in each clause. It also reflects the “People-oriented” spirit in the Law. The mode of “TP with Derived T’S” is a type of hierarchical progression that the themes of the latter clauses are derived from the themes or rhemes of the former clauses. The application of this mode to the legislative text for the further constant explanation for certain problem reflects the accuracy and inclusiveness of the legal language. And the choice of thematic structure makes the law enforcement officers have clear defined principles to adopt and obey. It also reflects the elites, formality, compulsion and rigidness of the Law.
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